LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 4, 2021

Rick Carlisle

Postgame Press Conference

Los Angeles Clippers - 104, Dallas Mavericks - 97

RICK CARLISLE: Disappointing result. Really did a lot of very positive things throughout the game. The fourth quarter was tough. We had some missed opportunities and Leonard just hit some really spectacular shots and so we're headed for Game 7.

It's going to be a great opportunity for our team. I don't know if any of the guys in our locker room, other than maybe Redick have been in a Game 7. We'll be excited and we'll be ready.

Q. You mentioned Kawhi's impact offensively, which was obvious. How much do you think he impacted the game defensively and in particular the time that he spent defending Luka?

RICK CARLISLE: He's been a big factor defensively throughout the series. He's going to make it tougher on any individual player that he's on. He's going to make it tougher in any two- or three-man situation that he's involved with. The fact that he had the energy offensively to hit those shots down the stretch, the majority of which were very difficult, is, you know, it's something to behold. We're going to have to do a better job. We're going to have to look at our scheming of him. We have done everything in this series and we'll have to be ready with the kitchen sink in Game 7.

Q. After getting that turnover with Reggie Jackson at the 7:17 mark, and Tim Hardaway getting the "and one" there, what was kind of the thinking with some of the, the timeout that was called and some of the sequence before and after once that timeout was called at that juncture of the game?

RICK CARLISLE: Our automatic timeout was going to be coming within a few seconds. We had a couple guys that had been in that were getting very winded. The mandatories are three and a half minutes. I thought it was a good time for us to re-gather. We had guys playing big minutes. The irony is we came out that timeout with a bad possession and the Clippers called a timeout in their front court and they turned it over. So it certainly wasn't perfect. But you asked what the thinking was. That timeout was going to come likely on the next whistle anyway and I felt it was a good chance for to us catch our breath there.

Q. Do you feel that by the time you get to Game 7 in a series there are more sort of big-picture coaching moves to make or at this point everyone's done their lineup changes and it's just kind of put everyone out there and see what happens?

RICK CARLISLE: Yeah, in most cases both teams have seen pretty much everything, but I'm not sure that that's going to be the case here. We have seen a little something different in each and every game and we'll just have to wait and see. I just know that we'll be excited for this opportunity. And one of the things about the way today's game is played, it's turned every guy on the court into a playmaker. These guys have all seen virtually every junk defense. They have seen every kind of matchup thing to try to manipulate into a difficult situation. NBA players have evolved and done a good job of reading situations. So there are certainly different things that can happen with lineups and rotations and even strategic things, but we'll find out on Sunday.

Q. Is there anything in particular you learned from tonight's game that you'll take into Sunday? I know you've been in plenty of Game 7s, but with this team, every team's different.

RICK CARLISLE: We have got to limit Kawhi Leonard's touches as best we can. That's one thing that's very obvious. I've only looked at the fourth quarter so far. I'll look at the rest of the game after this and we'll have some decisions to make. We'll talk about those things and keep moving forward. I'll answer more questions. I don't know that we're going to have any access tomorrow because of the travel and all that kind of stuff, so get everything you need now. Go ahead.

Q. Do you think you guys did a good enough job creating open looks after, on the pick-and-roll coverages where Luka was double-teamed and trapped?

RICK CARLISLE: We had, I think we were like five out of six straight possessions where we got a pretty good look at an open three and we just were unlucky. And Tim had one drive where he was right at the rim and the ball bounced out. So it's hard to get shots against these guys. They have got great defenders. They're mucking it up with switching and length. Look, you can always do better. I think it's always going to come down to the better you can defend, the better your shots are going to be, and so we got to look at both sides of the ball. Obviously we would love to get layups every time down, but you get to this stage of a series, just unlikely that that's going to happen.

Q. Because hardly anybody on your team has been in this situation before, did you sense at all that maybe your team was a little bit tight and got caught up in the moment there in the fourth quarter?

RICK CARLISLE: No, I didn't think we were tight. I liked the way we stepped into shots. I liked the way we, our sort of spirit of our effort and trying to help each other. There are just some correctable things that happened throughout the game that are correctable and controllable that we need to do a better job of. This turns into a game of inches. I mean, the little things in the first, second, and third quarter, they pile up as you get into the fourth quarter. So we'll look at all that kind of stuff, all those kind of things, but this is part of the growth process. Our team's been through a lot this year. Our guys are, they're together, they're locked in together, and they're really fighting, and it's been great to be a part of this experience and the last chapter of this series is on Sunday and so we'll look forward to that.

Q. You've emphasized the value of Porzingis as a floor spacer. You praised him a couple times this series for being patient. But when you look at a guy who is a 20 point per game scorer throughout the season, he's got single digit points in a couple straight games, is it a concern, his lack of involvement, his lack of touches, his lack of shots, do you need to try to get him going?

RICK CARLISLE: This comes down to what's best for our team. I've had a lot of conversations with KP during this series. Going into Game 4 we had one strategy that was completely different than what we had going into Game 5. He's been great accepting what our strategy was as a team, locking into it, and being professional about it. What this always comes down to is, in the case of your question, is the term, your term the quote/unquote getting him going, does that manifest in the best things for the team with their lineup, the fact that they're putting a difficult defender on him and those kinds of things, so we'll look at it headed into Game 7. But I'll tell you this, I love the way he's playing. I would love to get him more open shots and we'll look to do that in Game 7 for sure.